Lazo's Café reopens in Southbridge, but not all happy

Scott S. Lazo's pub is back. After about a decade of delays, the outspoken and controversial School Committee member and Pop Warner football leader recently opened Lazo's Café, his pub on Mill Street.

PHOTO/ T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG

Scott S. Lazo sits in his newly opened Southbridge bar.

Scott S. Lazo's pub is back.

After about a decade of delays, the outspoken and controversial School Committee member and Pop Warner football leader recently opened Lazo's Café, his pub on Mill Street.

Building issues forced him to rebuild. A gasoline spill from nearby Hi Lo gas station spread into his business. Financial hurdles had him owing more than $12,000 in back taxes. In the middle of doing the work, he had a hip replaced.

But at long last, the establishment is open for spirits, sports viewing and sandwiches.

Some, however, question whether the town would have been as patient about a dormant liquor license had it dealt with someone less politically connected.

Although the town has been dealing with three other dormant licenses in recent years, Mr. Lazo has become the face of the issue, because his had been inactive the longest, and because of his local prominence.

“What was it, 11 years almost?” said Liquor Licensing Board member Dale F. Ferron, who has criticized the handling of Mr. Lazo's license.

Mr. Lazo countered, “People have to understand: In Southbridge, I get no preferential treatment. I am looked at under a magnifying glass times two.”

The local Liquor Licensing Board had scheduled Sept. 20 hearings to revoke dormant licenses belonging to Mr. Lazo and another pub owner, and Oct. 18 hearings for two other businessmen.

But Mr. Lazo reopened the day before Thanksgiving, and two of the other three are on the verge of opening after years of prodding by the town.

Mr. Ferron said that during the first of his two stints on the board, in 2008, he “tried to move things forward and make sure that that license (Mr. Lazo's) was going to be used again — or it would be relinquished.”

Asked what the roadblock was, Mr. Ferron said, “I really don't know. As it was expressed to me at the time, it was, 'Well they (Mr. Lazo and his then-councilman brother Steven) do a lot for the town. We're not going to push them any further than we have to.' ”

Mr. Ferron also said he took issue with Mr. Lazo's not having to pay annual $1,000 renewal fees on the license for seven years, a savings of $7,000. Mr. Ferron said the license sat in the manager's office during those years because something had been worked out.

Mr. Lazo closed the bar for what he thought were minor renovations, but the project mushroomed into a complete rebuilding effort that no one could have predicted, he said.

The gas spill occurred four years ago, forcing remediation efforts and making it impossible to get financing.

Repairs were made out of pocket.

Mr. Lazo said he had no idea what he's spent. He said he had to borrow from friends.

If he could do it over again, he said, he would have simply moved the license to another site because the building “wasn't worth 10 cents.”

But Mr. Ferron said he dug deeper into the issue, and asked the state Department of Environmental Protection how long it had put Mr. Lazo's building out of service from the gas spill.

He said he was told it was 30 days or less.

“What needed to happen was Scott needed to come up with some money to get all the paperwork back in line to say he could reuse the building and reuse the property, and he didn't have the money to do that.”

Now that Mr. Lazo is open and the two others are close to doing so, Mr. Ferron said, he is just hopeful they bring jobs to town.

Town Manager Christopher Clark said Mr. Lazo has not been treated differently, but he could not speak to the management of licenses before he took the manager position in 2008.

Mr. Clark said he got more involved with the autonomous liquor board two years ago, when, he said, he was approached by people who said, “You're responsible for appointing those people (to the board).” They also wanted to know, “ 'Where are the results and are they operating the way they're intended to?' ”

To have a restaurant pouring license, a business also has to have a common victualer license, which is the manager's responsibility.

“I decided to approach it as more of a collaborative partnership in trying to work closely with the liquor licensing board,” Mr. Clark said.

But Mr. Lazo said he is convinced the dormant license discussion is “99.9 percent political.” He said the law allows for unforeseen circumstances.

Reached by phone, liquor licensing board Chairman Bruce Newlands said he had no comment, and hung up.

“You can cancel a license all you want, but then they can appeal it to the (state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission), and naturally the ABCC is going to look at all the circumstances and say, 'Here's a period where this person was unable to open even if he wanted to.' ”

He added, “I admit, for a long time these licenses haven't been being used. But our intention for a long time has been to try to get these licenses used so that they can employ people. We try to be very supportive of any business.”

Mr. Lazo, whose lineage spans four generations in the Southbridge tavern business, said he intends to hang a sign that says, “We get by with a little help from our friends.”

“I couldn't have done it alone,” he said. “I couldn't have done it without my friends, and I especially couldn't have done it without the patience of the town.

“I wasn't hurting anybody,” he continued. “And I wasn't doing anything illegal as far as holding the license, although some people like to tell a different story.”